24 Aug
2007
24 Aug
'07
12:16 p.m.
Dave McGuire wrote:
I have an interest, but only for a handful. Will is
right; the molds
will be the killer. I worked on a commercial product a few years ago
that used a two-part plastic chassis that was about the size of a small
book. The two halves were very, very simple...no weird shapes, and not
difficult for mold design. The "cheap" aluminum molds cost us about
$10,000 to have made, and the good stainless steel ones (last much
longer) were to cost about $18,000.
I was looking at DIY molding ... 1 ounce of plastic at most.
But you need access to a machine shop ... None around here.
See here for the book. http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/index.html
Molds for small parts such as switch handles will be
cheaper, and
there's a side benefit to their small size: we might be able to design
one mold that can make several different types of switch handles
(PDP8/e-PDP11/20 style, PDP11/45-PDP11/70 style, etc) in one shot. DEC
didn't use that many different styles of switch handles.
I got drooling over things like the PDP-12. Don't forget you need several
colors. The problem is finding a place that does small runs.
There's still the front-end-loaded cost of
having a mold cut, but
after that, the community would never again have problems getting switch
handles.
Or you can get custom switches made ... Now what about the switches
that go with the handles? Are they special?
-Dave
--Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
Farewell Ophelia, 9/22/1991 - 7/25/2007
.